Our Planet’s Future
Featuring Professors Graham de Ruiter, Daniel Orenstein, and Ester Segal
Our planet’s natural resources will become more strained in the coming decades, and the Technion is hard at work to address the crisis. In this discussion, learn about the wide range of solutions to build a more sustainable world: From 3D-printed steak to studying the interaction of Haifa’s residents and wild boars, Technion scientists are looking out for our future.
Assistant Professor Graham de Ruiter will share about his research that will revolutionize industrial processes in the food, energy, and health care sectors by using naturally abundant metals. Socio-ecologist Associate Professor Daniel Orenstein will discuss the Technion’s efforts to create a sustainable campus, as well as one of his favorite projects — an exploration of the interaction of Haifa’s residents and the wild boars that roam the city’s neighborhoods. And Professor Ester Segal will discuss the Department of Biotechnology and Food Engineering efforts to develop technological solutions for minimizing food losses and devising healthy alternative protein, both aimed at tackling looming food shortages.
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from some of the best minds working to secure our future. With their multidisciplinary approach, the researchers at the Technion are poised to solve the 21st century’s greatest sustainability challenges.
This event will be moderated by David Kaufman, Director of Global Strategies at Nixon Peabody, ATS – Bay Area Board Member, and member of the San Francisco-Haifa Sister City Committee. Bob Tandler, Chair of the San Francisco-Haifa Sister City Committee, will give introductory remarks. The partnership between San Francisco and Haifa became official in 1973. These two coastal cities have much in common as eco-conscious hubs of tech innovation, business, and culture.
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Featured Speakers
About the Speakers
Asst. Prof. Graham de Ruiter heads the Laboratory for Inorganic & Materials Chemistry in the Technion’s Schulich Faculty of Chemistry and is affiliated with the Grand Technion Energy Program. He works in the area of catalysis, discovering new molecules and materials to speed up chemical reactions. Born in the Netherlands, he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry at Leiden University. He furthered his master’s studies and obtained a Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Following post-doctoral work at the California Institute of Technology, he joined the Technion in 2017 as a Horev Fellow and has since been honored with the Azrieli Fellowship.
Assoc. Prof. Daniel Orenstein is a member of the Urban and Regional Planning Track in the Technion’s Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning. He is a socio-ecologist, studying interactions between humans and ecosystems. As the Principal Investigator of the Socio-Ecological Research Group, he oversees projects in areas including landscape preferences, population growth & urban sprawl, and environmental policy and history. He received his master’s degree in Desert Ecology from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, and his Ph.D. in interdisciplinary environmental studies from Brown University.
Prof. Ester Segal heads the Laboratory of Multifunctional Nanomaterials in the Technion Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering. She is also affiliated with the Technion Integrated Cancer Center and the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion, and is the program coordinator for the EU NanoPack Consortium at the Technion. Her research combines nanomaterials science and biotechnology and has a wide range of applications, including the development of a drug delivery system to treat Alzheimer’s and packaging that extends the shelf life of food. Most recently, she has been consulting Redefine Meat in their quest to create 3D-printed, plant-based steak that doesn’t harm the environment.